Our weekly newsletter creates a space to take a breath. Once we slow down, we can see the way desire, imitation, and conflict operate in our lives and in the world, and begin to create peace. In addition to the newsletter, you will receive the free "Unlearn the Bible" ebook when you subscribe.
[vc_row el_class=”olive-branch-bg-r”][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
Our collective faith has the power to shape the world.<\/p>\n
A world shaped by faith in compassion\u00a0and love will be full of compassion\u00a0and love. A world shaped by faith in punishment\u00a0and\u00a0violence\u00a0will be full of punishment and violence.<\/p>\n
And right now, our world bears the deep and lasting scars of faith in a violent God.<\/a> Over the centuries, people have believed that God\u2019s love for them is largely expressed in God\u2019s punishment of \u2013 or blessing to punish \u2013 \u201cothers\u201d \u2013 enemies, non-believers, those who look or think or act differently.<\/p>\n That wrathful God\u00a0does not exist. But faith in that God has created a world of pain.<\/p>\n Of course, many people of faith have also shaped the world with compassion and mercy. But even those who believe wholeheartedly in God\u2019s universal, unconditional love often have difficulty reconciling such love with the violence attributed to God in scripture.<\/p>\n And increasingly, people walk away from their religious traditions or reject God altogether because they can\u2019t reconcile that violence with Love.<\/p>\n I believe it is better to reject God altogether than to accept a violent God.<\/p>\n But I also believe that a better understanding of the violence in scripture would do a world of good. In fact, I believe that a recognition that (1) the violence attributed to God is a human projection and (2) God is leading us out of our own violence through love, could be revolutionary.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_section el_class=”post-quote”][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1566306295282{background-image: url(https:\/\/ravenfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/0c0caab3a0b06f49d1f4e4069f7acecc-e1562958862845.jpg?id=19638) !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text css_animation=”none” el_class=”quote”]<\/p>\n The story of Adam, Eve, and the apple is not about God\u2019s \u201ccancel culture.\u201d It is about ours.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]A humorous meme I saw on Facebook lamenting cancel culture helped me to reflect on how so much of our cultural violence can be traced back to dangerous interpretations of scripture. Before I get to it, though, it\u2019s helpful to understand what \u201ccancel culture\u201d is.<\/p>\n \u201cCancel culture<\/a>,\u201d the boycotting of people, which can amount to a loss of platform or the downfall of a career, is a modern backlash against the many ways people have \u201ccanceled\u201d the humanity of vulnerable communities. Racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of systemic injustice against marginalized peoples are the original forms of \u201ccancel culture.\u201d<\/p>\n The intention behind \u201ccancel culture\u201d is to\u00a0hold people accountable to treating one-another with decency and respect, just as the intention behind the boycotts of the Civil Rights Movement was to hold businesses accountable to recognizing the humanity of African Americans. So, if we want to move beyond \u201ccancel culture\u201d to a culture of mutual respect and compassionate accountability, we must recognize the injustices in which \u201ccancel culture\u201d is born.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_single_image image=”20395″ img_size=”full”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]And these injustices can, in large part, be traced back to faith in a God who \u201ccancels\u201d large portions of humanity.<\/p>\n A new perspective on the violence attributed to God in scripture, one that neither denies nor justifies it but uses it to shine light on human violence, is therefore imperative.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][vc_column_text]Without further ado, here\u2019s the meme:[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”20393″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https:\/\/twitter.com\/Nitaa_xo\/status\/1183203385115320321?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text]I can\u2019t blame anyone who interprets this story this way. The Church needs to do a much better job explaining the violence attributed to God.<\/p>\n The Bible records humanity\u2019s evolving understanding of God\u2019s self-revelation as Love. This is an ongoing process because humanity often gets God very wrong, perceiving ultimate power in violence. Throughout scripture, the truth of God\u2019s love for the whole world is intertwined with the misunderstanding of God\u2019s love for some expressed in violence against others.<\/p>\n The story of Adam, Eve, and the apple is not about God\u2019s \u201ccancel culture.\u201d<\/p>\n It is about ours.<\/p>\n Adam and Eve were created in the image of perfect Love and pronounced \u201cvery good.\u201d The serpent, the spirit of accusation and discord, planted seeds of distrust within them, making them doubt their true nature as reflections of Love. Suddenly, to be \u201clike God,\u201d they would have to \u201cjudge\u201d between \u201cgood\u201d and \u201cevil\u201d (never mind that nothing created had at this point been deemed \u201cevil\u201d at all).[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]This is not a story of God\u2019s wrath. It\u2019s the story of how the fear and dissatisfaction that we occasionally feel cause us to doubt our unconditional worth. Thus, we seek our value not where it is and always will be, in the everlasting embrace of God\u2019s love, but over and against others. We claim to know good from evil, point the fingers of accusation, and set ourselves up against scapegoats<\/a> and enemies.<\/p>\n And worst of all, we find a sense of righteousness, a false transcendence, in that accusation.<\/p>\n God never kicked Adam and Eve out of Paradise. God never banishes or shuns us. Rather, when we find false transcendence in violence, we confuse the violence that rebounds on us for God\u2019s wrath. And we worship a God we perceive to be violent with violence. We exclude outcasts and kill enemies all in the name of God.<\/p>\n The story of Adam and Eve\u2019s banishment from Paradise is the story of our distorted vision. And from that distorted vision, we have found power and righteousness in sacrifice rather than mercy.<\/p>\n Later, in Christ, it is revealed that \u201cthe Word,\u201d God\u2019s essence of perfect, merciful Love, was with us from the beginning but went unrecognized in our sight.<\/a><\/p>\nGod’s “Cancel Culture” And Ours<\/strong><\/h3>\n